Forums of the Megaverse®

It's never said anywhere, although it's safe to assume that it takes a few months per.

First the automaton has to be constructed. Depending on the size this could take months. It's the old 3 features in construction/repair rule.
"We offer a good job, a fast job, and a cheap job. You can have any two."
Once it's built, then your high magus can preform the ritual, but remember that a portion of the energy comes from the Lords of Magic, so the ritual will not work without their approval.

Ceizyk wrote:To Khanibal, there is nothing in any of the books and more so in the FoM book, that says the High Magus requires the approval, oversight or direct interaction with any of the lords of magic. It’s only statement there is that they too can control them and have the capability to bring them to life in mere minutes.

It's an often-missed segment in the book -namely, that the Lords of Magic, themselves, directly infuse their might -and by "might" Kevin/Palladium probably means "essence fragment," since it is rumored that The Three are part of a single, schizoid God/Alien Intelligence -into each of the Automatons.


In short, you CANNOT have a working Automaton unless the Lords will it (and they can also, at will, withdraw their essence from a given Automaton at which point it immediately becomes inert statuary.

Khanibal wrote:First the automaton has to be constructed. Depending on the size this could take months. It's the old 3 features in construction/repair rule.
"We offer a good job, a fast job, and a cheap job. You can have any two."
Once it's built, then your high magus can preform the ritual, but remember that a portion of the energy comes from the Lords of Magic, so the ritual will not work without their approval.

any god will suffice so say Odin could provide you with that energy if you are one of his followers

csbioborg wrote:

Khanibal wrote:First the automaton has to be constructed. Depending on the size this could take months. It's the old 3 features in construction/repair rule.
"We offer a good job, a fast job, and a cheap job. You can have any two."
Once it's built, then your high magus can preform the ritual, but remember that a portion of the energy comes from the Lords of Magic, so the ritual will not work without their approval.

any god will suffice so say Odin could provide you with that energy if you are one of his followers

A very strong implication is made from the text, that this is a sort of Special Ritual that only the Lords of Magic know -sort of a unique, one-of-a-kind mystic mix of "Golem" and "Temporary Transferred Intelligence."

To the best of my knowledge, nothing else in Rifts even comes close, especially in terms of this particular form of construct being able to be "dispelled' at will; everything else similar that I've ever seen is permanent and irreversible.